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For most of you who have been following my Money Meter closely, it might have come as a shocker to see the meter jump from about $1400 last month to over $2000 this month. I’m gonna refrain from building a plot and a climax in this post today and just throw the numbers at you real quick.

$250 – MS Exams

Last month, I registered for two Microsoft exams. Each one of them costs about $125 but I used vouchers from friends and managed to register for both of them for free. Total savings = $250.

$500 – Lease Renewal Special

Two weeks back, when we were driving back our new Prius from San Antonio, we were dog tired and damn hungry too,  so we stopped by Riata Bar and Grill for a quick bite. The waitress in the restaurant looked really familiar. After a good 15 mins of scratching my head, I was finally able to recognize her. She is a neighbor in our apartment complex and I see her every now and then with her dog, thanks to Dash’s aggressive instincts. Khushi and the girl hit it off right away (women!!!). The girl then went on to tell us about a special that was going in our apartment complex. It was for a whopping $500 discount on the first month’s rent if we renewed our lease for 6 months or more. We had recently signed a lease and it was effective only from July 1; so I thought to myself maybe we were eligible for the deal but were never told about it. The very next day I went to the leasing office and haggled with the manager for 20 mins. At the end of it, I came home $500 richer.

$300 on Cable

We got rid of the cable last month since all we were watching on TV was Network TV. It did not make any sense to pay $50 month after month for something that was available for free. We are not gonna have cable for a while now unless they start showing live cricket matches in North America. Total Savings for the next 6 months = $50 X 6 = $300

The next project for haggling is to get my renter referral money from the apartment guys. I referred 2 friends and am eligible for a whopping $800 check. I’m not gonna get the entire $800 since it’s gonna be divided by 3 (Indian style of referral!). Whatever the amount, I don’t like to let go of $$$$ that legitimately belong to me. Especially not to corporations.